To remember the actor Dennis Hopper who passed away on Saturday, here's Born To Be Wild (Bonfire), by Steppenwolf, from the Easy Rider soundtrack. Dennis both acted in and directed this classic road-movie from 1969.

Interesting weekend coming up. On Saturday Tortosa plays host to the events in favour of Catalonia having its own sport teams, and celebrating those teams which it already has (albeit in minority sports). Catalonia for the 2014 World Cup anyone? On Sunday the protest march in Barcelona demanding protection for the river Ebro and its ecosystems. Meanwhile, another number one from the sixties. On 28th May 1967 The Tremeloes were at number one with their re-make of Silence Is Golden (Gaudio/Crewe).

Buddy Holly died in the same plane accident as The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens, on 3rd February 1959. A day Don McLean would later describe as “the day the music died” in his hit, American Pie.The list of Buddy Holly’s hits is too long to mention, bu today we’ve got Well ... all right.

Yesterday’s posted song, American Pie, tells us about the history of rock music in the 1960s, starting out with the plane crash in which Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper died, in 1959.Here’s The Big Bopper with his 1958 hit Chantilly Lace.

American Pie from Don McLean’s 1971 LP of the same name. Much has been written regarding the lyrics, but if you think back to the history of pop/rock music during the 1960s, you’re a long way to understanding it ....

Thanks to the blog Els Primers Gestos del Verd, I've found this LP, the Manel Camp Trio together with the Valencian singer-songwriter Miquel Gil performing classics, in Catalan. Here they are with Cole Porter's Every time we say goodbye ....

Ian Curtiscommitted suicide 30 years ago today at the age of 23. He was the lead singer and chief song-writer for the short-lived group Joy Division. They only recorded two LPs but have had a huge influence on many other groups which would come after them. Their most famous single is Love Will Tear Us Apart.

And so to the present campaign. According to European Union legislation, the Spanish government should have drawn up new and modern 21st century “river basin plans” with necessary protection measures for the river eco-systems by now. They are 18 months behind schedule. The problem is that these new Plans must follow the rules laid down in the Water Framework Directive and this involves, calculating, and allocating, a “minimum” environmental flow for the Ebro – a river flow designed to protect the river and its wildlife with technical arguments. However, this is one big headache for the government in Madrid as they would rather share out the water amongst industrial and agricultural uses for political (vote-winning) reasons before thinking of the river itself or environmental legislation which they themselves agreed to.

Scientists and technicians worked out and presented a proposal for this flow three years ago with the help of NGOs, social groups, water users, and the backing (then) of the Catalan and Spanish governments. This proposal has gathered dust for three years, though, as it doesn’t fit in with the politicians’ preferred ideas of 20th, or even 19th, century water policies.

Once more, we must demand that the European Commission step in. They must make sure EU legislation is correctly applied and respected. If the Catalan government is not willing to make these demands or help the Ebro, it is down to the Ebro, and Catalan, citizens again.For this reason the Plataforma is organising a huge protest march in the political centre of Catalonia, Barcelona, on the 30th May to make ourselves heard in Brussels.

We’ve crossed many rivers so far in these 30 or 40 years of struggle, and many remain...Many Rivers To Cross by Jimmy Cliff from 1969.

The Ebro, its Delta, the surrounding coastline and littoral, and the Ebro region itself suffer from many problems and their future is not clear. It is not clear at all that the governing bodies have any reasonable aims and plans for this area, and local people have to struggle to make a living and protect their livelihoods. The socio-economic boom enjoyed by the rest of Catalonia has not been seen here. If anything, things are going from bad to worse with 3 nuclear power plants, plans for a nuclear waste dump, and the massive introduction of wind farms spoiling the natural and historical heritage of these lands.

The Terres de l’Ebre (Lower Ebro region) forms a part of Catalonia, just as much as the cities of Barcelona and Girona, and as such should be respected and supported by the Catalan government. The river itself is beautiful but the Ebro Delta is something special. Recognised as one of the three most important wetlands in the Mediterranean area, the Delta has an amazing variety of wildlife and plantlife, ranging from the spectacular flamingos to more delicate birds at risk of extinction. It has an excellent chance of promoting sustainable nature-loving tourism but this is up against the setbacks the river and Delta are facing. The issues of water quantity and quality cause serious problems for the Delta. Besides this, if the river cannot transport sediments down to the Delta it will continue subsiding and regressing, while the sea’s salt water moves gradually upstream.

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young cantant Down By The River, any 1969.............

The National Hydrological Plan, 2000-2004, with its crazy water transfer projects was abolished by the incoming Socialist government in 2004 – or so we thought. Actually the government only abolished certain aspects of the Plan but kept many which will have negative effects on the quality and quantity of the Ebro’s flow. All in all, the story still has an unhappy ending for the river.

Two years back we came up against the seventh attempt to transfer water out of the Ebro basin. The Catalan coalition government proposed piping water up to Barcelona in the spring of 2008. The government was, and is, made up of three self-called “left wing” parties, the same ones who 4 years earlier had publicly signed a document promising Never Again a Transfer-proposing Government (the slogan has a better ring to it in its original Catalan!). Once more we had to take to the streets and only when 30,000 people protested in Amposta did the government have a re-think.

Transfer plans or no transfer plans, the Plataforma has not rested since it started out as the Ebro suffers from many other problems and it seems that political promises to protect it are just that – promises.One of our campaigns is currently related to the Xerta-Senia Canal, a canal being built alongside the Ebro which crosses the country before almost reaching the Valencia Autonomous Community. This canal is supposedly for irrigation purposes but everything points to a different result. There are no serious plans for irrigation in this area and no information regarding exactly who wants to cultivate this land and at what cost. The Plataforma is convinced that this is just a smoke-screen, and that eventually, after the “failure” of this canal, the water will be offered to other regions of Spain for more profitable uses – intensive tourism, golf courses ... and once this gate has been opened, nothing will be able to stop more and more demands being made upon the Ebro.Similarly the Segarra-Garrigues canal is a blatant attempt to transfer water from the Ebro’s chief affluent, the Segre, to Barcelona.Together we consider these two canals to represent the water transfer number eight!

Meanwhile, the Ebro region stays the same, stuck in an economic dead end, watching how governments come and go only remembering this area when they need resources for big cities, and watching our younger generation leave to study and work, never to come back again.Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young with Down By The River – 1969

.......The campaign against the PP’s transfer plan (2000-2004) has been the largest and most popular one yet. The Coordinadora and other groups came together with individuals from all walks of life to form the informal voluntary protest group, the Plataforma en Defensa de l’Ebre (Ebro Defence Platform). A group of people with no membership or rules, who simply meet every week to discuss the present situation and prepare protest actions and other campaigns. The social fight against this plan saw thousands of people demonstrating in local towns, over 100,000 in Barcelona on three occasions, tens of thousands in Madrid, even 15,000 went to Brussels to demand the European Union impose its laws regarding water and wildlife. This together with a legal fight in the courtrooms and a technical campaign with the European Commission, demonstrating the irrationality and illogic behind the governments arguments meant that Brussels was about to step in and take measures when ...

... the Socialists came back into power in 2004 and shelved the plan, or so they said ...

The Ebro has suffered many problems over the years. Perhaps the threat most visual and easy to understand is the constant attempts by politicians and businessmen to “transfer” (siphon off via huge canals) water to other parts of Catalonia and Spain where more money can be made with this resource. The Ebrencs (collective name for people living in the lower Ebro basin) have been campaigning to protect the river – and with it their livelihoods – since the 1970s. One of the first serious attempts to transfer water was proposed by Franco back in 1973. This was the first water fight for the Ebrencs. Luckily Franco died soon after, and with him, his project.

In 1980 the government passed a law allowing for a water transfer to Tarragona. Unfortunately the social response was not strong enough to able to prevent it. The results of this transfer are clear – while Tarragona has enjoyed an economic boom and population growth via industry and tourism, the Terres de l’Ebre have become firmly stuck at the bottom of the socio-economic league tables in Catalonia.1989 saw a third transfer project when the Catalan government tried to pipe more water to Barcelona. The local protest this time was more organised and people formed the association, Coordinadora Anti-Transvasament. The government eventually gave in.

Four years later, numerous groups along the Ebro basin came together to fight a new transfer project of the Socialist government, in 1993. This project involved huge transfers and would have had the most serious effects on the river compared to previous and future plans, but luckily the political situation and people’s response at that time meant that the project never went ahead.The fifth fight was an unsuccessful attempt to prevent water being transferred to Mallorca by boat in 1995. Luckily this transfer was only a temporary measure.

What’s the problem? It may seem at first glance that if other areas of Catalonia need water, it would only be right to supply it. However, experience shows that this “need” is artificial. The more water supplied, the more unsustainable intensive agriculture or mass tourism is created, leading to demands for yet more water in a never-ending irrational cycle. A logical situation would be to re-address the balance and actually bring life and work to the river and its surroundings, rather than transferring the river (and killing off its ecosystems) for “political droughts” (and not natural ones).

Campaign number six, would arrive in the year 2000 when the Conservative government (PP) included a series of transfers in their River Plans which would have meant channelling off between 5 and 20% of the Ebro’s annual flow!

Moon River (Mercer/Mancini) sung by Louis Armstrong.

(Photos show river Ebro, birds-eye view of Delta, and mussel "farming" in Delta)

30th May, huge protest march planned for Barcelona in support of the river Ebro ... the river flows through nine autonomous communities with 3 million inhabitants before reaching the Terres de l’Ebre region and the Ebro Delta, 928 km later. Obviously any actions taken, or not, upstream have serious consequences for the Lower Ebro and its fragile river delta.The Ebro Delta is one of the most important natural areas of the Mediterranean coast, but it is in a critical state. It suffers from subsidence, regression, and salinisation. The ecosystems of the Delta and the littoral areas have no guarantees for their future, which in turn is bad news for the people who live and work there. Fishermen, farmers, sustainable tourism, small environmentally-friendly industries, everyone in this area depends directly or indirectly on the Ebro being in a good state, as it is one of the few resources available for the Terres de l’Ebre. The photo shows the beauty and fragility of the Delta.Over the next few days, we’ll be taking a look at the struggle to protect and conserve the river...

Many songs talk about rivers, but we’ll start with perhaps the most famous one. The River by the Boss from his 1980 LP of the same name.

"This was Richard Feynman nearing the crest of his powers. At twenty-three ... there was no physicist on earth who could match his exuberant command over the native materials of theoretical science. It was not just a facility at mathematics (though it had become clear ... that the mathematical machinery emerging from the Wheeler-Feynman collaboration was beyond Wheeler's own ability). Feynman seemed to possess a frightening ease with the substance behind the equations, like Albert Einstein at the same age, like the Soviet physicist Lev Landau—but few others."– James Gleick, Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman

Richard Feynman (1918-1988) was born on 11th May 1918. He was one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century. Among other achievements in a life packed full, he won a Nobel Pirze in 1965 for his work on quantum mechanics, worked on the Manhatten Project in the 40s, and participated with the inquiry into the Challenger disaster, eventually finding the reason for the accident. The quote included above from his biography says it all ...

But apart from that, he was a man in love with science and with education. His lectures given in the 50s and 60s are still used today by anyone with an interest in science. Rarely has anyone had such an ability to simplify and communicate complicated subjects in such a plain and enthusiastic way.His life reflected his character, he did not stay in a stuffy office but made the most of every moment, becoming a classy bongo player, a respectable dancer, learning languages, juggler, painter. Even a safe cracker, as he managed to break the secret codes for the Manhatten Project’s safe where the confidential documents regarding the atom bomb were kept!Feynman and his friend Raph Leighton, wondering what had happened to the little-known country of Tannu Tuva, set out on a final hobby/obsession, to find out as much as possible about this land. They are responsible for making Tuvan culture world famous, and their “research” continues today through the Friends of Tuva.

So the results are in and no one has a majority. More importantly I almost guessed correctly how many seats the Tories would win (300, when really it’s 305/6), but was taken in by the media boom surrounding the Liberals. I suppose it was clear all along that they’d be stuck way back in third place. My conclusions are that the media has made a story where there was none, with the Clegg phenomenon, and that the UK is still a two party system.Some time ago, seeing the descendents of Thatcher regain power would have upset me, but I’m past that now, and hardly see any difference between the parties. However, thinking back to a time when politics would affect me, here’s the Fine Young Cannibals with Blue from 1985.

Sorry, but couldn’t resist posting this photo – a gang of local politicians, Tortosa’s mayor, and the President of Catalonia apparently filming a re-make of Reservoir Dogs :)But who gets to cut the policeman’s ear off?Little Green Bag (Visser, Bouwens) by the George Baker Selection, 1969, from the Tarantino’s original version of the film.

Luckily I’m in the enviable situation of not being able to vote, neither in the UK, Spain, nor Catalunya, so I don’t have to choose who I’d like to win today. Taking a risky guess though, here’s my prediction: Tories 300 MPs, Labour 210, Liberals 90.And here’s someone who still believes in politics, though perhaps not in political parties. Billy Bragg with Between The Wars from 1985.

...perhaps the most well-known of Woody Guthrie’s songs is This Land is Your Land from 1940. This beautiful and evocative song has become extremely popular in American culture, as seen at Obama’s Inaugural Celebration when it was sung by Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen. From Bruce to Bruce in 5 days and 5 posts ....

This land is your land, this land is my landFrom California to the New York IslandFrom the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream watersThis land was made for you and me.

As I went walking that ribbon of highway I saw above me that endless skywayI saw below me that golden valleyThis land was made for you and me. I roamed and I rambled and I followed my footstepsTo the sparkling sands of her diamond desertsWhile all around me a voice was soundingThis land was made for you and me.

When the sun came shining, and I was strollingAnd the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rollingA voice was chanting, As the fog was lifting,This land was made for you and me.

There was a big high wall there that tried to stop me;Sign was painted, it said private property;But on the back side it didn't say nothing;This land was made for you and me

Nobody living can ever stop me,As I go walking that freedom highway;Nobody living can ever make me turn backThis land was made for you and me.

In the squares of the city, In the shadow of a steeple;By the relief office, I'd seen my people.As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking,Is this land made for you and me?

This land is your land, this land is my landFrom California to the New York IslandFrom the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream watersThis land was made for you and me.

... if Bob Dylan ever has to name somebody as his idol or inspiration, I’m sure that somebody would be the American singer-songwriter Woody Guthrie (1912-1967). Here he is with Talking Dustbowl Blues from 1937...

... listening to Pretty Woman usually makes us think of the 1990 film of the same name with Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. Gere also appears in the film I’m not there about Bob Dylan.Here’s Goin`to Apaculpo from the film, sang here by Jim James and Calexico, but originally from the Basement Tapes, the music Dylan recorded with The Band in the 1960s...